Fruit season is on its way

Last year we didn't keep very good records of when our fruit trees flowered, fruited and got their leaves - partly because we only moved in well into the fruit season - but we did throw together a rough fruit calendar. This is really helpful information for some fruits as it can help us know when the fruit should be ripe. So this year I had been keeping reasonably detailed records for each tree in a spreadsheet on my laptop. But my laptop went when we got burgled last week so again this year we have guesses and hazy memories about when everything happened in the garden. We don't even have dates on photos to refer to as the camera also went.

Lots of the fruit trees have flowered and a number of them are showing reasonably well developed fruit. The apricots are the size of olives, the peaches and nectarines a bit smaller. The almonds look pretty well full size, the damson plums are starting to develop, the quinces are there but small. And various currants and berries are also developing well with the red currants leading the race.

Last year there were only six apricots on the tree but they were the most intense fruit I've ever eaten. We were told different stories about why apricots struggled last year - some people say apricots are very sensitive to late frost, others said it was due to excessive rain while the fruit was developing. This year there are about 100 on the tree for now and hopefully we get a reasonable strike rate from here.

Apricots

The almonds are full size and now need to ripen. The cockys have had a few goes at them but haven't taken many yet. Last year they took almost all of them by the time they were ready to eat.

Almonds

The peaches are still tiny. Remarkably the tree has held together for another year.

Peaches

There are heaps of damson plums, just as there were last year. These are yummy to eat and also make a great sauce.

Damson plums

It's only two months now until the fruit season kicks off and we are really looking forward to it, especially Sofia. Her new sibling will probably be on solid food in time to enjoy the end of the season too.